By Monty Siekerman
Cosi in Ada is OPEN although the company filed for bankruptcy in Boston on Wednesday.
The local restaurant is a franchise owned by Sodexo, not the University. Sodexo, a giant international company, provides the food and maintenance services to ONU.
Northern on Main closed in May. After remodeling and installing an oven to make their signature flat bread, the local restaurant reopened in August as Cosi.
The rise of popular fast casual chains like Panera Bread and Chipotle have created more competition for Cosi. Changing the management and menu did not help either, nor did over expanding.
Cosi operated 74 company-owned restaurants and had 31 franchised restaurants in 15 states, and internationally. All company-owned stores are now closed.
A consortium of investors plans to buy the chain out of bankruptcy.
The first Cosi restaurant opened as a bistro in Paris 27 years ago, eventually becoming a popular Parisian eatery. In 1996, two men acquired the rights to Cosi’s brand after visiting it in Paris and expanded the concept to the United States. That expansion continued for almost two decades.
Cosi's stock has tumbled from a high of more than $40 a share 10 years ago to below 25 cents.
